Britain will be worse off outside the EU whatever kind of Brexit deal it strikes with Brussels, the latest Government impact assessment is reported to have found.
The analysis, prepared for the Department for Exiting the EU (DexEU), concluded growth would be lower under a series of potential scenarios, according to a leaked copy seen by the BuzzFeed News website.
Even if the UK is able to negotiate a comprehensive free trade agreement - as Theresa May hopes - it estimates that growth will be down 5 per cent over the next 15 years.
That would rise to 8 per cent if Britain left without a deal and was forced to fall back on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
Alternatively, if the UK were to retain access to the single market through membership of the European Economic Area the loss would be just 2 per cent.
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The leaked findings are likely to infuriate pro-Brexit Tory MPs who already suspect the Government is heading for a "soft" break which will retain many of the existing elements of the relationship with Brussels.
A Government spokesman said: "We have already set out that the Government is undertaking a wide range of ongoing analysis in support of our EU exit negotiations and preparations.
"We have been clear that we are not prepared to provide a running commentary on any aspect of this ongoing internal work and that ministers have a duty not to publish anything that could risk exposing our negotiation position."
A Government source added: "As part of its preparations for leaving the European Union, officials from across Whitehall are undertaking a wide range of ongoing analysis.
"An early draft of this next stage of analysis has looked at different off-the-shelf arrangements that currently exist as well as other external estimates.
"It does not, however, set out or measure the details of our desired outcome - a new deep and special partnership with the EU - or predict the conclusions of the negotiations.
"It also contains a significant number of caveats and is hugely dependant on a wide range of assumptions which demonstrate that significantly more work needs to be carried out to make use of this analysis and draw out conclusions."
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According to the leaked document - entitled EU Exit Analysis - Cross Whitehall Briefing and dated January 2018 - every sector of the economy would be adversely affected under all three scenarios, with chemicals, clothing, aviation, cars and retail hardest hit.
It also found that every region of the UK would lose out, with the North East, the West Midlands and Northern Ireland facing the biggest loss of growth.
It warned that London's position as a major financial centre could also be severely eroded, with the position under a free trade agreement not very different to operating under WTO rules.
On the positive side, it calculates a free trade deal with the United States could add 0.2 per cent to growth while agreements with other countries such as China, India, Australia and the Gulf states, could together add another further 0.1 per cent to 0.4 per cent.
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Responding to the leaked analysis, Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s Europe spokesman, said: "This is highly embarrassing for Theresa May but for those of us working to ensure the UK stays in the single market and customs union, it is not surprising.
"This analysis looked at three of the most plausible Brexit scenarios based on existing EU arrangements and there is no scenario that does not leave the UK worse off.
“The UK Government must listen to parties across Westminster and the devolved administrations, so we can protect our economy, business sectors and labour market from the cliff-edge that we are currently headed towards,” added the Fife MP.
Labour’s Chris Leslie, a leading supporter of the pro-EU Open Britain, said: “It’s little wonder the Government has repeatedly refused to publish any serious Brexit analysis.
"Their own impact assessments underline what has long been obvious; that their reckless plan to crash out of the single market and the customs union will leave us all much worse off.”
Mr Leslie claimed there was no mandate for “this hard and destructive Brexit”. No one, he insisted, voted to make themselves or their families worse off.
The former Shadow Chancellor added: "The Government must now publish their analysis in full, so that MPs and the public can see for themselves the impact that Brexit will have and judge for themselves whether it is the right thing for our country.”
Eloise Todd for the anti-Brexit organisation Best for Britain noted how the leaked analysis showed almost every community, region and sector of the economy included in the analysis would be negatively impacted.
“The case for or against Brexit should be about more than balance sheets but it’s painfully clear that the numbers are a gloomy part of the story. And behind these numbers are thousands of jobs, businesses and homes that are at risk.
"The Government are calling this document embarrassing but it's more than that. It is a colossal act of economic self harm, written down clearly, in black and white. We are reading about an economy facing the abyss,” she added.
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